Sunday, May 17, 2015

those who are not of this world

May
my words be in the Name of the Holy & Undivided Trinity: +
Father, Son, & Holy Spirit. Amen.

I
think if I were to tell you that there are creatures who walk this
earth – creatures who look just like everyday, ordinary human being
– but who were not of this world, you might think I was telling you
the premise of a science fiction movie. After all, there have been
many famous Hollywood films that have exactly that theme. Some of you
may recall the classic 'The invasion of the body snatchers,' where
aliens were able to copy and replace human beings so exactly that
their own nearest and dearest found it difficult to tell the
difference. Something similar happens in 'The Thing' where a group of
researchers in the Antarctic come across an ancient life-form from
outer-space that kills and copies them one by one, so that soon no
one knows who is real or who they should trust.

So,
as I said, if you think that the idea that there are people on earth
who are not of this world and yet look like regular, normal people
sounds a bit like science fiction, it is not surprising. And yet, I
am not making this up – it is in fact true. The people of whom I
speak look no different from anyone around them. In fact, there is no
test devised by science that could distinguish them from everyone
else. No check of their blood or DNA or scan by X-ray, ultra-sound,
or MRI will reveal the slightest difference; a medical exam by a team
of the greatest doctors in the world will find nothing; and if one
were to die and the most detailed autopsy were to be carried out
everything found would conform to the most precise detail with
everything found in the standard medical texts.

So
how do I know such creatures exist? I know, because I am one. And all
here, as it happens, are one also, as far as I am aware. I speak, of
course, of the fact that I am a Christian, and that you are
Christians, and Christians, while we live in this world, are not of
this world. Consider carefully the words of our Lord Jesus Christ in
our Gospel reading today: 'I
have given them your word, and the world has hated them because they
do not belong to the world, just as I do not belong to the world. I
am not asking you to take them out of the world, but I ask you to
protect them from the evil one.They
do not belong to the world, just as I do not belong to the
world. Sanctify them in the truth; your word is truth. As
you have sent me into the world, so I have sent them into the world.'

We
do not belong to the world: that is what Christ tells us. More, we do
not belong to the world just as he does not belong to the world. It
may be readily apparent to all here why Christ should be able to say
that he does not belong to the world. After all, he is the Son of
God, the Second person of the Blessed Trinity. He existed before all
worlds; and through him everything was made. Quite naturally the
Person who existed before even so much as a speck of dust existed can
say with absolute truth that he is not of this world; but how can he
say that we, his disciples and followers, are also not of this world?
Our bodies are made up of the dust, the earth, the ashes of this
place; it is here that we live out our lives and where we take every
breath. And it is to that dust, earth, and ashes we will return when
we die. So how can Christ say what he does?

It
is because we are more than the dust of the earth. We are creatures
made in the image of God; and, most importantly, at our baptism we
were baptised into Christ, even as we are fed by his body and blood
when we partake of the Blessed Sacrament in the Holy Eucharist.
Christ is in us and we in him; and this is what the One who is all
Truth means that we, like he, do not belong to this world.

Because
of that, we belong to the place where he belongs, the place from
which he came from and returned, the heavenly courts of his Father
and our Father. There is the place we were created to be; and is the
place that we will be welcomed into on that great and terrible day
when he comes again at the end of the ages, when time itself shall
cease, and this world shall be no more. We shall be welcomed in –
but I must say that no one will be forced in. To gain entry we must
answer Christ's call to us to love him and to show that love to him
through obedience to the Word he gave us – the word the world hates
us for. And why should the world not hate his word? For it is not of
the world. And why should we not love his word? For we, like he, are
not of the world.

And so I pray that you will indeed hear and obey
his word, so that on the day when you leave this world, this place to
which you do not belong, you will enter into the place where you do
belong, your eternal home with the Father, the Son, and the Holy
Spirit. Amen

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About Me

Hi, I'm Paddy (the Rev Patrick G. Burke), a priest in the Church of Ireland. The title of the blog is from a description of me in a letter my grandmother wrote to my mother in 1965 when I was three! May God richly bless you and those whom you love today and everyday. Amen.